Setting up a Linux computer, for gaming?
 

Hello,

I apologize if this question has already been asked, but even after doing a search I was unable to find a thread that had fit this exact question.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...y=REVIEWS#tabs

I am planning on buying this computer, and using strictly a Linux distro, as I would prefer not to have to deal with Dual OS.

Would this work well?

Would I be able to game on it, and do everything I can in Windows (MSN, Skype, Yahoo...ect)

I play World of Warcraft, and that's my extent to it.

I'm not a gamer but most of the responses are that you do it thru VM's, but as far as performance wine is suggested.

Like EDDY1 said, virtual box or wine is the definitely the best route.

Okay, so wine it is as it seems like it'd be the most simple option.

Is there a distro that one would recommend me using, am I even using this word in the right context? (ie; Ubuntu, Kubuntu being distro's yes?)

Is there any place, that I would be able to buy the distro at as I don't have anything to save it onto?

What do you mean? Just download for example Ubuntu, then burn the ISO image to DVD, plop that b*tch in and install. I highly do NOT recommend buying something that is normally free, unless you absolutely need to.

As far as buying a pre-burned DVD image though, check this out http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/cds (You can request a free cd)

Good luck!

Thanks for the link brother!
I'm unfortunately unable to burn discs so I have to buy one.

Now with Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and all of these how do I know, what would be the best one, or even if there are any differences.
I guess I could get one of them, and download each once I am able too.

It's very odd to have the choice of so many operating systems, before it was like "This is the newest OS of Windows..."

You can either use cd or usb to install from.

My computer is very, very similar to the one listed. Except I have an NVIDIA GTX285 graphics card, rather than use onboard video.

You can run Windows under a virtual machine using Virtual Box within Linux, and run any program there that wont work any other way (or there is no equivalent). Don't know if resource hungry games will go well in a VM. But thats a last resort, but at least its there, removing the need to dual boot.

Many of the games that I run, run natively in Fedora (ie, Quake Arena, Nexuiz, Prey, Doom3, Quake4, etc). For those that don't, 'WINE' does a pretty good job. You will need to install winetricks and run that to get DirectX9 installed. Performance isn't too far off Windows.

Also http://www.winehq.org/ has a database of games, and what you may need to do to get them working. Also, for many, you will need to find cracks to run it without the CD.

I haven't played WoW, but I believe it runs under Wine. Skype also works but not sure exactly how.

MSN/Yahoo can both be done by an excellent instant messaging program called Pidgin. aMSN is also very good for MSN. There are other programs to use these protocols, but these are ones I recommend.

Also, make sure you have alot of time to trouble shoot with wine.

If you want to use your computer to the max for games you need to run Windows. That being said, it's fun trying to get games to work under wine and you could possibly get them to work to your satisfaction.

Also, look at crossover office and winex(this one was made for games but I'm not sure if it still exists). These ports are not free but they have many tweaks for games to run well under wine.

Good luck

Check what games exist on Linux.
You can check out CEDEGA
VirtualBox for Windows to play games that don't work with WINE or CEDEGA.

http://www.linux-gamers.net/

Thank-you all for the advice.

Is Ubuntu the best, or should I look for another distro? There are so many to pick from!

I personally use Arch Linux for gaming, but it is a bit hard to setup for a newbie. I think any distribution that has a repository for Wine will be good, so I assume you can use Ubuntu for that.
Just a thought from me on that topic: I have chosen Arch Linux for two reasons for gaming. At first, it is rolling release and has Wine in his repositories, so I will always get the latest version. At second, I use it strictly for gaming, for all other purposes I use Debian. So I have set it up with a lightweight DE. I want that my resources are used by the game, not by the OS. So I would recommend a lightweight version for gaming, and I wouldn't consider Ubuntu lightweight.

With 1tb of HDD space, and 4 gigs of ram, would it make a huge difference if I went with straight up Ubuntu and Wine?
I can always put in a little bit more memory, and another HDD if need be?

Ubuntu is a perfectly sound choice of distro.

There are plenty of companies that will sell you Linux CDs and DVDs, and it'll be quicker than requesting the free Ubuntu CDs. Don't pay more than ten dollars, unless it's a multi-disk set of some sort.

Empathy or Pidgin will do your MSN and Yahoo, but maybe not voice or webcam, so check if that's what you use. Skype has a Linux version.

Wine will run many Windows programs and games, but not all. WoW should run fine. When it comes to other titles, you'll have to be prepared to check compatibility before you buy. Speed compared to Windows varies; sometimes a little slower, rarely a lot slower (which may point to a setup problem), sometimes even faster.

PlayOnLinux is a free "front end" to Wine, that can make it easier to use by handling special settings for common applications. CrossOver is a commercial front end. Cedega was a fork; it's currently in flux, so don't pay anything for it right now.

With a somewhat fast CPU, 4 GB of RAM and a good graphics adapter you should be fine for games. Nonetheless I think (just my opinion, so don't take it to serious) that any resource that is used by the OS can not be used by the game. But I am somewhat fanatical when it comes to such things (reminds me to replace XFCE with a simple WM).
If you feel fine with Ubuntu, just go for it.